Sunday, 30 September 2012

Before I start today's post, I'd like to welcome Stephen to Inso's World. I hope you enjoy your stay and take away something from your visit. Please feel free to comment and share the wealth.

So what has happened this week? Well... I have had another sleepless week so things have been pretty slow again. That said, I have been able to knock together a few body guards for Octu... and here they are:

Click the Pic!

You can probably see that the pix look more naturally coloured than usual. Well, I used daylight instead of my lamp and it has made a huge amount of difference so while I was taking pix, I took one of the entire first wave:

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You can see that everything is painted except for the four walkers. Now I had hoped to have one finished by now but I haven't. The one at the back on the left has been fully base-coated, washed and is now in the process of getting the highlights sorted. The one next to it has had the first coat of blue added but nothing more and the other two are just primed. My primary painting task is getting the walkers finished and then going back to wash the little guys' hands with ink to define the fingers more.

So... sculpting has been very difficult. I have managed to ad two bits of putty to the space cowboy and a few bobs on the helmet of the cyclist but that is all. It really is depressing... I need to get those two sculpts finished but every time I try to work on them... I just can't face it. Sometimes, my muse is a bitch.

In other news, I have sent pix of the last sculpt I finished (the Sleiti Warrioress) off to be judged for the sculpting competition (fingers crossed). I have also assembled an Eldar Phoenix Lord and have started dabbing paint on it... more news on that in later posts (if it comes to anything).

I was trawling the forums the other day when I stumbled across some information about an E-Bay voucher. Ten minutes later, I had bought a pack of aliens from Reaper Miniatures for less than £2-00 (should have been £6-99) so I was pretty chuffed about that. They are a bit different to the Visitors sculpts but I plan to use them as servants for the Supreme Commander (Mekon) so that was a good bit of luck.

I think it is about time for a gratuitous Kitten picture... here's sleepy Henry:

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There is a lot of joy to be had when you see your little kitten sleeping... it means he isn't climbing the back of your legs or running riot over the furniture.

Saturday, 29 September 2012

“Sir, we’re picking up unidentified projectiles entering the outer perimeter” said the scanner technician.“What size, number and trajectory?” asked the officer.“Small… smaller than a soldier… in excess of a hundred and fifty and they all seem to appear at a point five hundred kilometres beyond the outer perimeter, sir” replied the technician.“Alert defence and scramble interceptors” said the officer.“Yes, sir” replied the technician.

“This is Alpha one” said the pilot “stay in formation and link computers so we all go for different targets, over.”“Alpha two, Roger, out.”“Alpha three, Roger, out.”“Alpha four, Roger, out.”“Alpha five, Roger, out.”

The interceptors kept a tight formation as they approached the small objects that were speeding towards the planet’s outer orbit. As one, they all fired their pulse cannons and were surprised to see that the small objects were simply thrown off course and not destroyed. They continued their assault on the targets and were determined that, even if they weren’t destroyed, the objects would be sent out into space and away from the planet. After a short while, Alpha flight were content that no more of the objects were heading towards orbit and called off the attack but were quickly alerted to the fact that the objects had altered course and had redirected towards the planet again.

Again the interceptors converged on the targets and began to blast them with hyper-velocity rounds but this time, some of the objects were destroyed by the attack.

“This is Alpha one to Alpha flight, continue with rail guns and destroy all targets, out” said the pilot.

It was little more than target practice after that and in less than an hour; all of the objects had been destroyed.

“Hello, this is Alpha one to control” said the pilot “please confirm all targets destroyed, over.”“This is control. All targets confirmed destroyed. Return to base for de-brief, over.”“This is Alpha one, returning to base, out”.

“We have sent out a recovery team to collect some samples from the destroyed objects” said the colonel “we should have something to inspect very soon.”“Excellent” said the high commander “I believe that this was a test of our defences and we need to be extra vigilant at this time.”“I agree, sir” replied the colonel “I have already voiced my concerns with orbit control and they have put the interceptors on amber alert.”“That is good to hear, colonel” said the high commander “as soon as we have the samples I want our best scientists on task.”“That is being dealt with now, sir” replied the colonel.“I wonder what the recon team will find at the entry point for all of these objects” said the high commander “I would suspect some sort of special gate like the Sleiti used to use to teleport.”“You don’t think that the Sleiti have returned do you sir?” asked the colonel.“Of course not, colonel; they have been our allies for nearly a hundred years and they have no reason to break our treaties due to the aid we have delivered since their home world died” replied the high commander “I believe that this is something altogether different… maybe something from outside our own universe.”“Well, I hope we find out soon” said the colonel “we will need time to muster our forces and prepare the arks if we need to.”“Let us hope that the arks aren’t necessary this time” said the high commander sagely.

“A full and thorough investigation of the objects has been carried out and we have reached the conclusion that they are some form of psychic teleportation system” said the head scientist “they contain a biologically manufactured synovial fluid and a range of psychic transceivers that would likely be able to open a worm-gate to allow the transportation of objects over a vast distance.”“So it was an invasion attempt?” asked the high commander.“We must assume the worst, sir” said the colonel.“Doctor, is there any way of disabling the gate-projectors across a broad pattern or are we forced to take them out one at a time?” asked the high commander.“We believe that a broad spectrum nano-wave transmitter will disrupt their ability to open gates whilst not harming the local population” replied the scientist “with your permission I will task the relevant agencies to commence manufacture of the transmitters immediately.”“Granted, doctor” replied the high commander “colonel, ensure that the orbital interceptors are correctly equipped and that all ground personnel, including civilians, are made aware of the threat.”“Yes, sir” replied the colonel.

A green fist slammed against the console. On the screen was a Grymn home world. It was rich in resources and bio-matter but the alien commander knew that it would not be efficient to launch a campaign on such a technically advanced planet. He turned to the small character stood by his side and muttered a few barked syllables before he waved away the planet on screen and brought up a fresh image.

Friday, 28 September 2012

“What are those, daddy?” asked the little girl who was peering from her window at the unusually high level of meteor activity in the night sky.“Those are just shooting stars” replied her father.“There are lots and lots of them” said the little girl.“Yes but I wouldn’t worry, it just means that the sky is sharing her treasures” replied her father and he ushered her into bed before tucking her in and leaving her to sleep.

“The unusual amount of meteor activity was witnessed across the world last night; leaving scientists baffled” said the news caster “In the light of day there have been increasing numbers of meteorite finds in areas as far afield as the polar ice-caps and the city of Delhi.”

“I was lucky not to have been squashed like a pumpkin” said old Bert “if I’d been digging my taters instead of the carrots I’d have been a goner. There was a big bang and I was thrown to the floor… when I looked at my tater patch it was gone and all that was left behind was a gert big hole and a ball of rock!”

“We have collected a number of the meteorites and have discovered that they are all around the same size; about the size of a beach ball and are all regular in shape” said the government scientist at the press conference “they appear to be made of an iron ore with a hollow core but all attempts to break through the surface have failed at this time.”“What do you think they are?” asked the reporter.“We can’t be sure at this time but I would suspect them to be regular fragments from a larger comet that have broken off… a bit like the fragments from safety glass all being similar sizes when the glass is shattered” replied the scientist.“Are they safe?” asked another reporter.“I would not recommend anyone should approach the meteors at this time and would advise anyone who finds one to notify the police” replied the scientist.“So they are dangerous then?” replied the reporter.“We cannot categorically state that they are safe so it would be a standard precaution not to touch them” said the scientist.

“What have you tried so far?” asked the scientist.“Everything except explosives” replied the technician “there seems to be a magnetic field that is preventing anything from actually touching the surface.”“I had better inform the military” replied the scientist as he left the room “try whatever means you need to.”“Will do, sir” replied the technician “Harry, get in touch with Kent and tell them that we will be bringing a meteor to blow up on their range in the next couple of hours.”“Will do, John” replied Harry.“I’ll open you up if it’s the last thing I do” said John as he patted the meteor.

“It has been two days since the meteor shower and there have been increasing amount of sightings of small, green men reported across the globe” said the news caster “police have maintained that hysteria is the reason for the reported sightings and are trying to keep a lid on things getting out of hand.”

“Daddy, where has mummy gone?” asked the little girl.“She’s just gone to put the bin out. I’m sure she’ll be…………….”“Excellent news, sir” said the scientist “we’ve managed to open one of the spheres using a focused microwave beam.”“Quit the yap, Poindexter… what’s inside?” replied the general.“There is a small silver ball with strange text over the surface” said the scientist “and inside that is a mix of tiny metallic components and a thick grease-like substance.”“And what does it do?” asked the general.“We can’t be sure, sir... whatever it is it doesn’t appear to be functional and has no obvious power source” replied the scientist.“How many rocks have you got there?” asked the general.“Forty six, sir” replied the scientist.“Well keep cracking them open until you have an answer for me” said the general.“Yes, sir” replied the scientist as he signed off “Harry! Bring up the next one…”

In the depths of the Sahara desert, the meteor shimmered briefly before it resumed its inert state. There was no one there to see it but it happened.

“SIR!” shouted the technician “The meteors are attacking!”“What do you mean?” asked the scientist.“Harry’s head has exploded!” said the technician “He touched the meteor and his head blew up… it was terrible… Harry’s dead… he just blew up!”“Clear the lab” said the scientist as he operated the emergency alarm and contacted the general “Sir, the meteors are defending themselves.”“Are the microwave weapons ready?” asked the general.“There are a few… but less than twenty” replied the scientist.“My team is on the way…you must make sure they get the weapons on their arrival” said the general.

“Was it just Harry?” asked the general.“Yes, sir” replied the scientist.“Good, that will make it easier to contain. Captain, inform his family of the accident he had and explain that he is so radioactive that his body will never be released” said the general “and we have opened all of the rocks now?”“Yes, sir” replied the scientist who looked completely shell-shocked.“And they all contained the same device inside?” asked the general.“Yes… even down to the symbols on the shiny spheres” replied the scientist.“Hmmm” thought the general “they only react when touched but don’t defend themselves at range… what manner of device are these?”

The meteor in the children’s play-park, just outside Henley in Oxfordshire, began to shimmer with a constant, flickering field around it. A moment later, an area of space next to the meteor wobbled and a tall, dark, walking machine emerged from the portal; closely followed by three more that were identical apart from the symbols on the head carapace. They were as tall as a house and had small bodies with spindly arms and legs. The four machines stood motionless for a few minutes before silently striding off towards the river.

“The scene is one of utter destruction!” said the reporter “eye witness accounts tell of giant, walking machines that blasted everything that moved with some sort of a ‘melting’ weapon and a smaller gun that fired shards of crystal. They have destroyed all of the boats near the rowing club and there are dead birds everywhere…the machines seemed to react to all movement with the same ferocity so many people were lucky that there were so many frightened birds about.”“Where are the machines now, Glen?” asked the news caster.“They strode across the fields towards a nearby airfield but before they got there, they disappeared through a sort of air-gate that opened and swallowed them” replied the reporter.“How have the authorities responded?” asked the news caster.“Troops from nearby Benson were called in to cordon the area and help the emergency services to control the scene” replied the reporter “there are also reports that there was a known meteor in the area of the air-gate but this has not been confirmed.”“Thank you Glen” said the news caster “we can now speak with the Prime Minister live from Westminster. Sir, can you give us any more information on what has happened in Henley?”“As you will be fully aware, an incident like this will require a full investigation and I am unable to pass on any information at this time. My thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives in this tragic incident” said the Prime Minister “I can assure everyone that we are treating the incident with utmost importance and the best scientists and professionals are being drafted in to investigate.”“What are your thoughts on the information about the meteor being near to the scene?” asked the news caster.“I am not able to comment at this time and you will have to excuse me because I have urgent matters to attend to” replied the Prime Minister.“Thank you, sir” replied the news caster “the Prime Minister. In other news…”

“Is there a way of finding all of these meteorites… some way of tracking them?” asked the general.“No sir… they seem to absorb radiation and any radio waves so all our detectors will be useless” replied the scientist.“Then we have no other choice… we’ll have to issue an order for all meteors to be reported and we’ll have to respond to every one individually” said the general “How are the microwave weapons coming along?”“They have gone into full production, sir” replied the scientist “they are being issued to the containment teams as we speak.”“Excellent” said the general “have you shared the designs with our allies?”“Yes, sir” replied the scientist “exactly as you ordered.”“Good” replied the general “we’ll let our enemies find out their own way of dealing with the threat.”“But sir… what if these walking-machines get a foot-hold?” said the scientist “once they have destroyed our enemies, they will come after us.”“By that time, we’ll be ready for them” said the general.“This is a general alert” said the newscaster “Everyone who is not a civil servant is to report to their nearest public shelter. All civil servants are to report to their places of work immediately. All military, whether on leave or off duty, are to report to their duty units immediately with deployment kit.”

That was how it started. We thought we had the situation under control but we didn’t. It only took one or two meteors to start the flood of aliens. No sooner had the walkers arrived, the foot-troops followed; terrible little things with green skin, bulbous heads and eyes as black as night. After the foot troops, the leaders arrived on their little chariots and as soon as they did, a multitude of air-gates appeared and more invaders flooded in. We thought the microwave weapons would destroy them but we were wrong… we lost many troops finding out. In the initial stages, we were massacred; cut down by a variety of weapons that vaporised, burned or shredded… but we learned fast. Concentrated firepower was the key; that and the trusty infantry rifle. Who would have thought that the copper jackets on the bullets would allow them to penetrate the psychic barriers that the aliens used. It took a lot of shots to do it but eventually the copper ‘shorted out’ the barriers. The walkers were still horrendously difficult to bring down but the lessons were learned and the tanks and artillery pieces were armed with copper clad, anti-armour rounds. We eventually beat them back but had to share what we had learnt with our enemies as well as allies in order to do so. We had won the fight but at a terrible cost… many lives were lost and cities were reduced to ash. It was the dawn of world-wide cooperation. Strength through unity, they called it. We didn’t have a choice if we wanted to survive. All meteors were systematically collected and destroyed with microwave weapons but we could never be sure that we collected all of them so we were at a continuous readiness state. We just hoped that the meteors never returned again.

In the depths of space a pair of coal-black eyes peered at a screen. On it was a rotating picture of the earth. A green hand stretched over to a small cup, grasped the handle and drew it up to green lips. The alien drank from the cup, put it down and waved its hand above the screen; extinguishing the image. It stood up and left the control room; grinning as it went.

Sunday, 23 September 2012

Before I start, I'd like to welcome the latest follower of Inso's World; Alcidas. Welcome Alcidas and I hope you find a few things of interest as you stroll around the gardens. Feel free to leave comments and add suggestions.

Fancy a bit of a challenge? Well if you do and you don't need a prize to compete (apart from the kudos of winning!), the Forum of Doom has just kicked off this year's Unofficial Diorama of Doom. For more information, rules and where to start things off, click HERE.

Phew... what a week. I have had to chill out because the old Insomnia beat me this week so it was a day off work and some sleep meds to get me back on track. Fortunately, it only kept me down for a day and I was able to transform my freebie Grey Commander from Tengu Games into Mekon; Supreme Overlord of the Visitors:

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While I was repositioning his head and arm, I managed to snap them off so I had to reattach them but I think he looks brilliant as the Supreme Commander... and I couldn't help calling him Mekon.

This week, I have received all of my expected E-Bay purchases and I can now rest on my laurels that I don't need to strip any figures for the time being. I have a couple of bids in for a bit of flavour but I am only expecting to win one of them... hopefully. The other one was a 'let's put a stupid little bid in to be cheeky' sort of bid... You never know.

One thing that I was really happy to receive was my charity miniature; Super J. He is a cracking little miniature but in his silver state, he doesn't photograph very well so if you want to see what he looks like, here he is by another painter:

(Both are linked from Lead Adventure Forums)

If you are interested in getting hold of one, here is a link to the thread on the Lead Adventure Forum: LINK.

Finally, our newest family member (Henry) has had his second set of jabs and a week for them to work before this happened:

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Once he was out and had dashed back into the house a few times, he got the hang of being outside and started to investigate... all supervised of course. He certainly seemed to enjoy the occasion... even if he was apprehensive.

Well... that is about it for this post. I am continuing to sculpt the cyclist at the moment but I hope to start painting some dreadnoughts when I get the chance too. We'll see, I guess!

Looking at the above list, I will need to buy more Tengu Greys but in addition to that, I will have 1 small and 2 large grav platforms left over.

The small platform I can put the grand overlord on (with a suitable amount of honour guards) but I will still have the two larger grav platforms left over.

My thought is to put fighting platforms on them and have special heroes ride them. Both would be non-psychic (having suffered head injuries... maybe scars/disfigurement or bionics) and would be wearing powered armour in a similar style to the dreadnoughts. They would have pole-arms so that they could reach the enemy and their suits would have limbs that are longer than they should be (the Visitors feet would sit just above the knees and hands would fit just above the elbows).

The big question is... would that fit with the rest or is it a bit too much?

Saturday, 15 September 2012

I'm cheating today. I have decided not to wait until tomorrow to post this week's mutterings.

But where to start?

Well... I've been on holiday for a week and have been pottering around, going out to places and various other stuff.

Some of the 'other stuff' involved E-Bay and Tengu miniatures. Namely, I have been buying stuff and that means Eldar dreadnoughts, weapon platforms and more little Greys. I think that I now have ten Dreadnoughts, around six weapon platforms and forty three Greys.

But it isn't just about army buying... it's about army building and you can't have an army without a rallying point so I ripped the helmet off a Grey (the free one that was delivered with my first Tengu order), added a spare head from a Crossover superhero miniature and came up with this:

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The writing on the side is from the Tau alphabet... a Google search will find it. His name is Octu... I can't think why. He doesn't need to touch the controls... he's psychic. He needs four honour guards but I'll get around to that eventually. In the mean time, I may have finished the first batch of troops:

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That is twenty troops with a leader and of course, the whole point of the troops is to support the dreadnoughts and vice versa so here is a pic of what I have for the first wave of the army:

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Once the dreadnoughts are painted and the four honour guards are finished, the first wave will be complete. Things are definitely ticking along considering the idea only came to me a few weeks ago.

Apart from that, I was lucky enough to find three more of the Matchbox/Hotwheels six wheeled buggies so I snapped those up quickly. I have been paint stripping miniatures from various E-Bay victories and I have been to visit Bournemouth and the Cotswold Wildlife Park. I have also been adding putty to the cyclist sculpt... but not nearly enough.

Monday, 10 September 2012

I will keep this entry short and to the point. Please read the story on the following link and decide whether you want to support the charity drive... but please click the link (it is on the Lead Adventure Forum):

Sunday, 9 September 2012

This week has been one of preparation. I have been tinkering away on my cyclist sculpt (which should have been finished by now) and working to complete the conversion of all of the Tengu Models greys into Visitors. Well, the cyclist still hasn't been finished but all of the Greys have been converted and there is an additional bonus... can you spot it?:

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Not only did I manage to convert and assemble the second dreadnought and undercoat everything... but I also managed to finish off the five painted Visitors by basing them:

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You won't see it but the blue dreadnought has had his legs properly base-coated but I need to finish the rest before the wash stage starts.

So... I now have 20 Visitors, 8 dreadnoughts a walker and a grav platform. I have been productive on E-Bay with a further dreadnought on the way along with two further grav platforms. I am also bidding on something else and have bought a further 20 Greys from Tengu.

The plan is to use the grav platforms for some leaders, use the new greys as honour guards and the remaining greys will be standard Visitors. Eventually, I want five Visitors for every walker/dreadnought and each leader base will have a leader and four guards.

I have been thinking about how the Visitors will operate on the battlefield and this is what I came up with:

Invasion of the Visitors.

• When the Visitors decide to invade, their first course of action is to launch the gate meteors.
• Each gate meteor is a ball of rock that houses a teleport gate safely within it.
• Each of these gate meteors has a psychic conduit that links it to the control ships of the Visitors.
• When the meteor is launched it will enter the atmosphere and plummet to earth and once it has landed, it will remain dormant until a psychic command is given to activate it.
• The psychic conduit within each meteor enables the Visitors to map the position of each one that has survived.
• Once activated, a teleportation gate opens that enables the Visitors to travel to the surface. Initially, the gates are one way but the visitors can switch them if they need to return to their ships.
• Each gate has the capacity to allow vehicle sized travellers to pass through them due to a broad focus teleportation beam.
• Initially, the walkers will arrive to pave the way for the Visitors to enter the battlefield.
• Only after the Visitors have made sure that the landing zones are safe will the leaders arrive with their honour guards. The leaders travel on hover chariots/thrones.
• Each Visitor is psychically shielded and is able to manipulate psychic energy to either move objects or project waves of force. They provide support to and are supported by the walkers.

In game terms, I would suggest that a number of dice (3d6) are rolled broadly across the table before the game starts and where the dice settles is where a gate meteor will arrive. Depending on what the number on the dice is and where it lands would depend on how successful the landing had been.

• If the dice lands in or on a terrain feature the meteor is destroyed.
• If the dice result is a 1 then the meteor is also destroyed.
• If the dice result is a 2, 3 or 4 then the meteor has deviated 2d6” inches in a random direction.
• Any deviation that results in a meteor landing in or on a terrain feature will destroy the meteor.
• If the dice result is a 5 or 6 then the meteor is safe and does not deviate.
A few notes on using gate meteors.
• Each active gate meteor on the table is able to teleport one unit each turn.
• Each unit must be placed within 6” of the gate meteor on arrival.
• Only Visitors and their equipment may use the gates (and any captives that they happen to have in their possession).
• If a Visitor unit returns to within 6” of a gate meteor, it can choose to leave the battlefield but may not return.
• Each turn after the Visitors arrive a further 1d6 extra dice can be rolled and treated just like the ones rolled before the game starts. This is not compulsory but will add tension to the game.
• You may choose to use whichever gate is available but it is not compulsory to use them all.
• Once the first Visitor unit has arrived on the tabletop, the enemy will have worked out that they are under attack and will also realise that the meteorites are gates. If there is an enemy unit within line of sight of any gate meteor that has been used then the whole enemy army will be able to attack the gates. Gate meteors will have a toughness characteristic that, once beaten, will render the gate destroyed.

The gate meteors provide an excellent way of limiting the arrival of Visitors and also provide a hugely random deployment that will provide a fair amount of tension to both players. Do you roll the dice in a small area or do you go for a wide dispersal at the risk of your gates being destroyed by landing in terrain? Will the dice be kind or will the game finish before it begins?

Comments are welcome.Finally, Henry has some lovely new neck-wear:

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It seems that the Visitors obsession is here to stay for a little while.

Tuesday, 4 September 2012

And while I was taking pix and uploading them, Henry came to investigate the computer:

And earlier... I dyed my daughter's hair again...

I was supposed to get some sculpting done but instead I watched a bit of Dog the Bounty Hunter and Southpark instead... sometimes, the best laid plans are doomed to fail. It makes you feel so insignificant...

Sunday, 2 September 2012

I have had a pretty relaxed weekend and quickly decided that I wanted to get something finished rather than continuing with the production line of converting Visitors so in between going out and the Para-Olympics I finished these off:

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Obviously, the walker isn't finished and I haven't based the Visitors but I am happy with the way they look so far. In fact, I am so taken with these little miniatures that I will be buying a lot more and will have some leaders in hover-chairs with an honour guard. I am also considering an open-cabin cockpit for the war-walker that I have in my collection... but I need to get some of the dreadnoughts finished first.

Over the last few days, I have had to get camping stuff for my daughter and try to get overalls for my son. That meant going to Oxford and Aylesbury for shopping trips. Whilst in Oxford, I popped into Boswells and happened across a box of old GW paints. That meant I could collect enough Necron Abyss to ensure that I could paint all of the walkers. I have decided that I will start to buy the Coat d'Arms paints as the colours run out now... it is just a case of making the jump.

I have also been slaving over the paint stripper pot and have been diligently cleaning copious layers of paint from various E-bay victories... namely dreadnoughts and Eldar. Most of the paint was removed with Dettol but I have had to resort to Nitromors for the more stubborn paint and glue/putty. All is progressing nicely.

Here is a gratuitous Kitten Montage:

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Henry is completely bonkers and is starting to be accepted by at least one of the bigger cats we have (Fred). The other one (Moggy) is a miserable, self absorbed, mean-spirited and old cat who would rather sit in the kitchen on the door mat than be in the same room as Henry... more fool her.

So... the Visitors are progressing, the ideas are flowing (Eldar Heavy Weapon mounts for hover chairs) and I actually have something that I've painted recently... win-win.